Setting up your shop floor
In order to use the Agile MES to its full extent, objects like workstations and workflows need to be set up correctly. The Agile MES configuration can be accessed by entering the Service Panel and navigating to Settings > Agile MES Settings > Workstations or Workflows respectively. It is advised to create all workstations before setting up the desired workflows, as workstations need to be assigned to workflow steps in order to allow job scheduling in the MES.
Creating and configuring Workstations
Enter Settings > Agile MES Settings > Workstations to configure the printers and post-processing workstations on your shop floor. Except for the nesting type parameter which is limited to workstations of the type printing, all workstations share the same generic settings.
Property | Description | Mandatory |
|---|---|---|
Name | The workstations name that is displayed in the MES scheduler view after setup. | yes |
Type (with version 22.1) | Workstation type, can be set to:
| yes |
Description | Storing any additional internal information, e.g. company specific ID, serial number, location etc. | no |
Show in scheduler | Toggle off to hide the workstation from the MES' scheduler view | no |
Nesting Type | Depending on the technology used by the workstation, either use the entire 3D bounding volume or 2D bounding area for nesting. | yes - for Printing workstations only |
Materials | Allows the specification of all materials that are processable by this workstation. When scheduling jobs on a workstation, the scheduler checks if the selected parts match the workstations settings. Only parts requiring a material that is set in this field will be available for scheduling on this workstation. If no materials are selected at all, all parts can be scheduled regardless of their material. | no |
Job documentation form | Can be used to assign a pre-configured form to a workstation to document parameters on jobs that are performed on this workstation. | no |
Max Dimensions (mm) | XYZ-dimensions of the workstations build volume, to be specified in mm. | yes |
Creating and configuring Workflows
Secondly, workflows need to be defined in the MES. Workflows consist of a number of steps that need to be carried out to produce a part according to the specified requirements. Each of the steps in a workflow can be linked to one, multiple or no workstations. If no workstation is specified for a step, jobs can not be scheduled for this particular step of the workflow. A workflow can be set as default for a specific material in the materials “General” section.
While setting up workflows and their steps, one can specify for every step if it should be listed on the production sheet, which can be exported as a .pdf from part and job detail as well as the parts list. Default step durations can be assigned to every workflow step, which will be used to automatically calculate estimated finish dates for parts. Workflows need to be assigned to parts. Before parts are associated with a workflow, no scheduling or part progression actions can be performed for this part.
Property | Description | Mandatory |
|---|---|---|
Name | The workflows name, this name is shown in the workflow dropdown when assigning a workflow to a specific part. | yes |
Description | Storing any additional internal information e.g. process descriptions. | no |
Step | Each step represents an action that needs to be carried out in order to produce the parts according to the specified needs. Each step can have one, multiple or no workstations assigned. Default step durations can be set per workflow step to calculate estimated finish dates for parts. Further it can be specified if a specific workflow step should be shown on the part production sheet. A typical workflow could be:
| yes |
File naming format
In the admin panel, it is possible to set up a custom file naming rule for downloading part files. In order to set up your own custom file naming rule, go to Admin Panel > Fulfillment partner > Advanced Options > File naming format
Insert the file naming rule in the following style to be automatically applied to every part file download:
The available variables for automatic file renaming are listed below:
part ID - only once orders are accepted and parts exist in MES
part name
part number
part quantity
part material
order number
order reference number
order created by